Sunday, June 08, 2008

PINKLOSOPHY

A triad of equal approach with diverse means of investigating spaces, instigating aces and anticipating gazes. To initiate, mediate and evaluate for equal measures. At great length, to equally pursue, acquire and exchange knowledge for a sustainable relationship.

1a space is Hong Kong’s first alternative for contemporary art. It is operating as an independent and non-profit making visual art organization founded by a collective of Hong Kong art workers in 1998. 1a space is directed by artists for artists and art practitioners. It is an open platform to cultivate and nurture local artistic talents with aims to promote the critical dissemination of contemporary visual arts practices and affiliated art forms. 1a space aims to constitute a creative interface between the art community and the public.

The funding of 1a space has been assisted by grants and private donations, and is partially supported by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council. 1a space is a registered charity since April 2007.

“Bond, Agent Bond” encapsulates our introduction to the theme given as well as an answer to the open call. Acting as ‘bonding agents’ in a foreign country, it is mandatory to embrace the culture and acknowledge the people. Apart from that, it is also a mission to form a micro-community at the given venue. Nothing can be more beautiful than keeping and bringing people together through art.

What is to be forecasted of the event, to project a brief atmosphere, is a reminiscent of past projects by 1a space in 1999, ‘All you can eat’ and ‘Home Affairs’. Coincidentally, Bond, Agent Bond is a fusion of both – consisting of elements of food, a tea ritual and moments of sharing that will bring the aura of a house setting.

As a collective curatorial approach, our confrontation on the given theme – mobility, is to create a social interstice; an event, a festival or even a potential intervention at the given venue. Its main trait or keyword is ‘relational’ as it involves human interaction and crowd participation. Thus, the objective is not to let the audience pass or walk through the artwork but to socialize, mingle and interact - adhering to the notion of the ‘state of encounter imposed on people’.

Rather than laying an object for the audience to gaze, we will lay a setting or a festive for human sociability. Thus simultaneously hyping up the given theme and treating the venue as a model or vehicle for future possibilities.

We are coming in as a coherent unit but varying in forms; respectively, the outcome will resemble a performance, a ritual and of random materialism. Activities will happen concurrently (on the opening day of exhibition) in an attempt to engage the audience and to create an arena of exchange that is potential for discussion. What is left after, will only be a documentation of the event or the remnants of it. To quote what the ‘given theme’ (by 1a space) manifests:

Mobility, examining the passing of time that allows us to engage in the present as a continuation of the past and the foretaste of the future.

To paraphrase the ‘manifesto’ to our context of mobility, is not to summon the viewers to gaze at an object but rather, to invite the viewers to touch, participate and socialize with the art. Whatever the viewers experience during the event (at present) will bring back memories on cultures and would definitely change their perceptive analysis in the near future.